This year’s Global Citizen Festival will form part of the organisation’s Mandela 100 campaign – a series of global events being held to celebrate the life and legacy of iconic struggle hero Nelson Mandela, in partnership with the House of Mandela.

Inspired by Madiba’s call to end poverty, the Mandela 100 campaign hopes to raise $1 billion in global investments for the most marginalised communities in the world, with $500 million to be set aside to impact the lives of 20 million women and girls globally. The festival’s seven Global Goals include tackling poverty, hunger, health, education, girls and women, water & sanitation and ocean pollution.

The festival is being staged by the Motsepe Foundation, with Patrice and Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe serving as executive producers.

“We were impressed by the good work that Global Citizen do in mobilising the youth to hold world leaders accountable and decided to partner with them. The youth is our future and the best investment that we can make in our future is to invest in the youth,” Moloi-Motsepe says.

The best part about the festival is that there’s no ticket fee. While entry is free, it will have to be earned and you can do that by signing up on www.globalcitizen.org.za.

From 21 August all registered users will be able to take action on the Global Citizen platforms to earn points. You can earn your ticket by doing uplifting work in your communities and by being activists and agents of change. Organisers say you can also earn bonus reward points and early access tickets if you refer your friends to Global Citizen.

“What I like about this concert is that, as much as it is free, young people gain entry based on points they have accumulated through acts of activism,” Motsepe says.

Supermodel and actress Naomi Campbell, media personality Bonang Matheba, Gayle King, Tyler Perry, Bob Geldof and Forest Whitaker will be among the concert hosts and the queen of television Oprah Winfrey, will be delivering the event’s keynote address.

“Nelson Mandela’s life story is a testament to the power of the human spirit and one man’s ability to change the world by standing up for what he believed in,” Winfrey says.

“It is one of the great honours of my life to have spent so much time with him and I look forward to celebrating his courageous life.”